STORY: Striving towards the light
SHOOTING TIME: recent footage
DATELINE: Sept. 3, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:51
LOCATION: TIANJIN, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Sulayman Njie
2. SOUNDBITE (English): SULAYMAN NJIE, Engineer of the TBEA Gambia project

STORYLINE:

"Words can't express the joy and pride that I felt." Sulayman Njie, a Gambian young man, studied in China and returned home to work for a Chinese company. He has witnessed how the company's solar energy storage solution has brought clean energy to his motherland.

SOUNDBITE (English): SULAYMAN NJIE, Engineer of the TBEA Gambia project
"I went to Beijing Jiaotong University to study [for] a master's degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, I returned to my home country -- The Gambia.
It is very common for both residential and commercial or industrial users to face power outages here in The Gambia.
The Gambia has long relied on heavy fuel oil for the production of electricity, which not only pollutes the environment but is also very expensive, especially during peak hours.
In 2023, my motherland, The Gambia, actually started to employ renewable energy resources, and this was really exciting for me. It has always been my dream to use my knowledge, experience, and my vision to contribute to the energy sector of my country.
TBEA, an electrical company from China, brought their photovoltaic energy storage solution and stood out among multiple engineering contractors around the world.
As [a] Gambian citizen, I believed it is not enough to just manage the project well.
I had the ambition to learn more knowledge and skill from the field of electrical power technology. So, I decided to join TBEA directly.
When I first started the project, I was only doing some basic work. After more than half a year, I have become very proficient in using a number of electrical testing equipment to check the installation quality and to explain the installation techniques and on-site installation content to the workers.
We can see the temperatures are around 30, 32 degrees, so that is really normal. It shows everything here on the stream is working perfectly.
Then, I use easy-to-understand methods to teach the local staff. My language skills have gradually become a bridge between the Chinese and the local people here.
Here, we can actually see how much we have generated now. The total for the whole day is 116 megawatt hours. That is a lot of energy and before sunset, we might actually reach 120 megawatt hours, so that is really a great number of energy, that we are generating in this power station. It's awesome.
March 9, 2024, is an unforgettable day for me. That day marked the completion of the project I was working on.
Words can't express the joy and pride that I felt. This solar PV power plant with [an] 8MWH battery storage system is the first of this kind and magnitude in Gambian history. I am very proud to contribute to the country's clean energy cause. I believe that temporary power outages and blackouts will be a thing of the past that my motherland will from now on, get better and better all the time."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tianjin, China.
(XHTV)